Friday, June 5, 2009

The Garden: Great Movie Poster

I happened to see this poster at my local movie house and it blew me away.

THE GARDEN is about the largest inner-city, community garden in the US, right in South Central LA, and how the political forces of the city government have tried to take this haven away from it's people.

Although the online version doesn't do it justice, it does reflect how you might see it as a passerby. This off-center, off-kilter dark block is actually an aerial picture of the garden. The designer washed out and outlined the surrounding neighborhood in white and very light grey. It is almost as difficult to see this background in person as it is online.

I think what I like about this poster it the "Ah-Ha" moment you get when you finally realize what it is. You need to get close up and engage the design to totally get what's going on. It's a simple design with a lot going on. Heck, it got me to stop and look...

THE GARDEN is an engaging and powerful look at the famous political and social battle over the largest community garden in the US (located in South Central Los Angeles). A follow-up to Kennedy’s award-winning documentary OT: OUR TOWN, the film shows how the politics of power and greed (backroom deals, land developing, green politics, money) tragically intersect with working class families who rely on this communal garden for their livelihood. Equal parts THE WIRE and HARLAN COUNTY USA, THE GARDEN exposes the fault lines in American society and raises crucial and challenging questions about liberty, equality, and justice for the poorest and most vulnerable among us. Kenneth Turan of the LA Times said: “It’s tempting to call “The Garden” a story of innocence and experience, of evil corrupting paradise, but that would be doing a disservice to the fascinating complexities of a classic Los Angeles conflict and an excellent documentary that does them full justice.”